2EC963E5441AD5B287258A12006FBF0E Hearing Summary

PUBLIC
BILL SUMMARY For PRESENTATION FROM BICYCLE COLORADO & AAA ON ROAD DEATHS

INTERIM COMMITTEE TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION REVIEW COMMITTEE
Date Aug 21, 2023
Location Old State Library

Presentation from Bicycle Colorado & AAA on Road Deaths - Committee Discussion Only

Attachment Tag

File Name

AttachmentHBicycleCO.pdf

02:23:54 PM

Rachel Hultin, Director
of Policy and Government Affairs for Bicycle Colorado, provided information
about road and traffic injuries and deaths for those not traveling in a
car (Attachment H). She talked about the goals of Bicycle Colorado.
Ms. Hultin shared the federal definition of a vulnerable road user,
including pedestrians, bicyclists, other cyclists, and a person in a personal
conveyance. She mentioned that the definition is used for federal
assessments and funding.

02:25:55 PM

Ms. Hultin provided
statistics about pedestrian crashes and deaths and mentioned that last
year was the deadliest year for road users, especially those traveling
on foot. She said that 36 percent of fatalities occurred outside
of a vehicle and included vulnerable road users and motorcylists. She
talked about contributing factors to an uptick in fatalities and injuries,
including more vulnerable road users, dangerous road designs, heavier and
faster vehicles, insufficient funding, and road user behavior.

02:27:49 PM

Ms. Hultin shared
that dangerous road design can contribute to accidents, since roads are
often designed to handle a maximum volume of cars at a particular time.
She indicated that when there is less traffic on roads outside of
a high volume time, cars may drive faster since there are fewer cars.

02:29:29 PM

She stated that vehicle
speed and weight, insufficient funding, and road user behavior are also
contributing to deaths and accidents for vulnerable road users. She
talked about how speeds are set and about the field of vision being less
on larger cars.

02:31:20 PM

Ms. Hultin outlined
the safe sytems approach, which focuses on human mistakes and human vulnerabilities
in design. She said that redundancies are worked into the system
to protect everyone. She mentioned that due to our accident and fatality
numbers, 15 percent of federal funds must be spent on road users. Ms.
Hultin said that funding is being spent on bike lanes, improved crossings,
and slowing speeds.

Ms. Hultin outlined several efforts to address increased fatalaties and
injuries for vulnerable road users, including shift driving, road user
assessments, and a safety transportation program. She said that shift
driving is an education program in partnership with CDOT to change driver
behavior. Ms. Hultin talked about a road user assessment that identifies
who, when, where, and vulnerable road users are being killed. She
said that with this information funding may be directed to those areas
or situations. Ms. Hultin also talked about the state's safety transportation
program that sets engineering principles to direct funding using data engineering
systems.

Presentation from Bicycle Colorado & AAA on Road Deaths - Committee Discussion Only

Colorado General Assembly